Former addicts, parents, police and representatives of treatment centers told legislators on the state's Young Adult Heroin Task Force about their lives and encounters with heroin users.

The task force is staging hearings this spring and will consider the findings in making laws to address the heroin problem that many have called "epidemic."

Three legislators attended, but Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, said others on the task force will receive written testimony.

In Winnebago County last year, 124 people died of drug overdoses - 51 were heroin-related - compared with two overdoses in 1990, Coroner Sue Fiduccia said.

Bonnie Falzone-Capriola asked that the state consider funding Hope Over Addiction, a Rockford-based group she helped organize. Her son, Barry Falzone, died in 2011 of his fourth heroin overdose.

Her group, mostly parents of children who overdosed, is about a year old and she wants to get into more schools to talk to youths about addiction.

The group also offers grief support and is working on a website. It may consider training parents and others how to administer naloxone, an antidote used to reverse a heroin overdose. "The ultimate goal is not to die," she said.

Winnebago County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Dominic Iasparro said a dealer can buy an ounce of heroin for $2,500, mix in additives to make it go further and sell it for $8,700. The drug comes here via Chicago gangs from distributors in Mexico who get the poppy-derived drug from Afghanistan.

A dose of heroin sells for about $10 in Rockford, but users typically buy five packets or more for a day's use, Iasparro said.

About 75 percent of crime in Rockford, which he said is "high," is related to drugs, and a majority are property crimes against families and stores to support a heroin addiction.

Pat Spangler, unit coordinator for Rosecrance in Rockford, which treats substance abusers, said a key to fighting heroin abuse is to educate the public to reduce the stigma so abusers get treatment.

Page 2 of 2 - Increased funding for treatment and medicine will also help, said Mary Ann Abate, vice president of public policy for Rosecrance.